Starship Troopers

It won the Hugo. It is a classic. I had expectations. I enjoyed Stranger in a Strange Land. I had seen the movie.

I was underwhelmed. I knew it was different than the movie, but I think what happened was that in transforming it from a YA novel to an adult novel, it kind of landed in a limbo that was less than the sum of its parts.

There was a lot of philosophizing. It is known for that. I didn't take it as preachy, or necessarily as a manifesto of Heinlein's personal beliefs. He explored issues, and that doesn't mean he espouses them.

I was in the Navy for ten years. I felt there was a lot of wink-wink, nod-nod such that when he was overblowing the rah-rah spirit of military he was doing it tongue-in-cheek. There is a kind of eye towards the military that someone who had been in the military, like him, would resonate with.

One of the chapters that resonated the most with me was the one where he was describing being assigned to a Navy ship that had women on it. It is absolutely true the rivalry between branches of the armed services, particularly between Navy and Marines. And there is nobody more rah-rah than Marines, in my experience. So the rivalry felt true. The opinion of the Navy that all other branches are unnecessary because the Navy could take care of it all is shared by many. In real life we always heard a saying that “the Army has more boats than the Navy and the Navy has more planes than the Air Force.”

The other part of that chapter, about the sequestering of the women except for officers, and standing guard to make sure people didn't go forward of the restricted area rang true, also. I've seen many times where military men would code-switch in the presence of women, even though some military women were rougher and cruder than some of the men. There would be less swearing, more deference, and constant guard against fraternization. It is a potent dynamic. I was on submarines, and there were no women. Now they do allow women on submarines and I'd love to talk to someone who has experienced that, especially a woman to get her point of view.

Back to the story, the first half of it was okay because I kind of knew where it was going but not quite. The second part was less enjoyable because I always gloss over when they start using lots of ranks of services I'm not familiar with, and describing platoons and squads and other groupings of personnel that I don't know the difference between.

The mission for “Operation Royalty” was interesting and enjoyable, and the end of the novel was satisfyingly open-ended for there to be a sequel. Perhaps on further reflection or reading, now that I know what to expect, it will increase in my estimation. It did inspire me to pick up Heinlein's Expanded Universe book to read more about the backstory of this story, and I look forward to exploring more of his works.